The Salish Sea, a dynamic system of straits, fjords, and channels in southwestern British Columbia, is home to ecologically and culturally important bull kelp ( Nereocystis luetkeana ) forests. Yet the long-term fluctuations in the area and the persistence of this pivotal coastal marine habitat are unknown. Using very high-resolution satellite imagery to map kelp forests over two decades, we present the spatial changes in kelp...

The impacts of local-scale temperatures and winds on bull kelp ( Nereocystis luetkeana ) vary along a coastal gradient, while also being influenced by corresponding global-scale oceanic conditions. Around Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands, BC, Canada, bull kelp floating canopies were mapped using high-resolution imagery from 2005 to 2022, whereas the largest kelp bed of the area was mapped with medium-resolution imagery sp...